Event Driven Takeaways
- The Trump administration will convene a group of telecommunications stakeholders later this month to discuss opportunities and challenges for the deployment of 5G networks, according to Kelsey Guyselman, an advisor in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
- That conversation could include mention of the proposed Sprint/T-Mobile merger. The mobile carriers have argued that the combination of their assets would put them in a position to accelerate 5G deployment.
- At the Mobile World Congress Americas conference in Los Angeles on Sept. 13, Guyselman said during a panel that there are matters related to national security that should be considered when discussing 5G.
The Trump administration will convene a group later in September to discuss opportunities and challenges for the deployment of 5G networks, according to Kelsey Guyselman, an advisor in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. That conversation could include mention of the proposed Sprint/T-Mobile merger, as the companies have argued that the combination of their assets would put them in a position to accelerate 5G deployment.
At the Mobile World Congress Americas conference in Los Angeles, Guyselman told Event Driven that the White House on Sept. 13 sent out invitations to industry stakeholders, such as representatives from T-Mobile and AT&T, think tanks and academics to participate in the discussion about policy decisions related to 5G.
During a conference panel titled “Converging Markets and Regulations in the 5G Era,” Guyselman said there are matters related to national security that should be considered when discussing 5G. She said the US should have “policies in place that are flexible that will allow us to react and respond and recognize new emerging threats that we’ll be seeing to the networks.”
Both Team Telecom and CFIUS are reviewing the merger between Sprint and T-Mobile for national security concerns. As Event Driven
previously reported, CFIUS has experience with Sprint’s owner, Japan’s SoftBank, and has repeatedly imposed mitigation agreements on SoftBank to limit the company’s access to or control of U.S. technology. Both CFIUS and Team Telecom are made up of representatives of executive branch agencies.
Also during the panel, Guyselman said the U.S. should have “forward-looking flexible spectrum policy,” meaning that more spectrum needs to be “in the hands of carriers and other users so that we have the building blocks for 5G networks.” She added that having the right investment environment in the U.S. and smart infrastructure policy are also important.
--Alexandra Wilts